Queerying 23rd after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

How does God guide you through life transitions? 

How has God shown up to refresh you on your path? 

When has idleness made life difficult? 

How have some relationships been destroyed to make way for new blessings? 

------

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 65:17-25
For behold! I am creating a new heaven and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered, they shall never come to mind. Be glad, then, and rejoice forever in what I am creating. For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy, and her people as a delight; And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in her people. Never again shall be heard there the sounds of weeping and wailing. No more shall there be an infant or graybeard who does not live out their days. She who dies at a hundred years shall be reckoned a youth, and she who fails to reach a hundred shall be reckoned accursed. They shall build houses and dwell in them, they shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit. They shall not build for others to dwell in, or plant for others to enjoy. For the days of My people shall be as long as the days of a tree, My chosen ones shall outlive the work of their hands. They shall not toil to no purpose; they shall not bear children for terror, but they shall be a people blessed by the Becoming One, and their offspring shall remain with them. Before they pray, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will respond. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the serpent’s food shall be earth. In all My sacred mount nothing evil or vile shall be done.
—said the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
What new things are being created?
Where do we hear weeping and wailing?
What brings us joy?
How might the wolf and lamb graze together?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 21:5-19
⁵When some of Jesus' chosen family were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, ⁶“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

⁷They asked Jesus, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”

⁸And Jesus said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am the one!’ and, ‘The divine timey wimey is near!’ Do not go after them.
⁹“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and dominion against dominion; ¹¹there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
¹²“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to religious communities and incarcerate you, and you will be brought before dictators and rulers because of my name. ¹³This will give you an opportunity to testify. ¹⁴So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; ¹⁵for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. ¹⁶You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by biofam and friends; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷You will be hated by all because of my name. ¹⁸But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹By your endurance you will gain your breath of life.

Queeries for the text:
What else is adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God?
When are stones not left upon another?
How are we led astray?
Where are the wars and insurrections?
Where are earthquakes, famines, and plagues?
Who has been handed over to religious communities and incarcerated?
How will you testify?
What words and wisdom does Jesus give?
Who is betrayed by their biofam?

What are your queeries?



 

Queerying 15th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

For what sorrows and wounds are you calling out to God to soothe?

How will humans need redemption for blessings being squandered now?

How do you pray for people who abuse their power?

How does prioritizing financial security prevent faithful living?

-----

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
When in grief I would seek comfort,
My heart is sick within me.
“Is the Becoming One in Zion?
Is not her Sovereign within her?
Why then did they anger Me with their images,
with alien futilities?”

Hark! The outcry of my poor people
from the land far and wide:
“Harvest is past,
summer is gone,
but we have not been saved.”
Because my people are shattered I am shattered;
I am dejected, seized by desolation.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Can no physician be found?
Why has healing not yet
come to my poor people?
Oh, that my head were water,
My eyes a fount of tears!
Then would I weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people.

Oh, to be in the desert,
at an encampment for wayfarers!
Oh, to leave my people,
to go away from them—
for they are all adulterers,
a band of rogues.

Queeries for the text:
Who is in mourning?
What is the outcry of "my poor people"?
What is the Balm in Gilead?
What is the physician doing?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Then Jesus said to his chosen family, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this steward was wasting his possessions. ²So the rich man summoned them and said to them, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your stewardship, because you cannot be my steward any longer.’

³Then the steward said to themself, ‘What will I do, now that my Proprietor is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to do unskilled labor, and I am ashamed to ask for what I need. ⁴I have decided what to do so that, when I am fired as steward, people may welcome me into their homes.’

⁵So, summoning their Proprietor’s debtors one by one, they asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my Proprietor?’

⁶The first answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’

They said to that one, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, remove the interest, and make it fifty.’

⁷Then they asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’

The other replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’

They said to that one, ‘Take your bill, remove the interest, and make it eighty.’

⁸And the Proprietor commended the corrupt steward because they had acted wisely; for the children of this age are more wise in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. ⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of corrupt securities so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the everlasting homes.

¹⁰“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is corrupt in a very little is corrupt also in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the corrupt securities, who will entrust to you what is genuine? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No domestic servant can serve two Proprietors; for they will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and securities.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
When else was there a rich man?
Who stewards for the rich?
Who brought the charges against the steward?
Who is strong enough for unskilled labor?
Who changes debt?
What has corrupt securities?
How do you make friends?
What is another's?
What is your own?

What are your queeries?